


Friends, I Too Feel the Temptation to Jump Aboard Passing Freight Trains and Journey to a New Life, but We Haven't Thought It Through

by ObliqueOptimism



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Agoraphobia, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Gen, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Torture, Panic Attacks, Vietnam War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2020-12-20 18:01:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21060857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObliqueOptimism/pseuds/ObliqueOptimism
Summary: After getting sober, Klaus found a new way to cope with the ghosts.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TotallynotRemus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TotallynotRemus/gifts).

> i'll be honest, this isn't done yet but i plan to post a chapter a week and by the time i'm caught up it should be done so _here's hoping_. i also cannot stress enough how much help [remus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GabbyD) was. like, my friend, thank you so much.

Luther looked around at his siblings. Diego, Allison, Vanya. No Five, no Ben. No Klaus. Sighing, he looked to Pogo, standing to the side and giving them their space. “Is Klaus coming?”

Pogo frowned and shook his head slowly, “I’m afraid not, Master Luther.”

Luther felt his chest tighten. He’d hoped that things had changed while he was on the moon. He’d emailed Klaus a few times, encouraging his brother, but he guessed it must have been easy to lie in email. “He hasn’t gotten better?” He noted that the other three perked up, paying attention and obviously listening to the conversation.

“My dear boy, I’d say he’s gotten worse,” Pogo’s tone was quiet. Grave. Helpless.

Diego jerked into a straight backed position, “Worse? What do you mean worse? Is he sick and you didn’t tell us?” He pointed a knife at Luther, glaring.

Luther shuffled on his feet, “Uh, not exactly.”

“Then what, exactly?” Allison asked.

“Well, uh. Before the moon, so I guess like, five years ago? I think around the same time as your book, Vanya. I don’t remember if it was before or after but uh, Klaus ended up in a bad way?” Luther looked down at the floor, trying to explain how he let this happen to their brother.

“What. Happened,” Diego interrupted. He’d forgotten Luther’s habit of looking down and mumbling answers when he didn’t think people would be happy with him. And he was right, Diego was not happy with him.

“As I said, Klaus was in a bad way and we, uh-- me, dad, Pogo, mom, we all helped him? Heal and get sober--”

“The fuck he is,” Diego groused. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Pogo cleared his throat, “I do believe Master Klaus still has a marijuana problem.”

“Does he have cancer?” Vanya’s soft voice asked. “Is that what’s wrong with him? Is that why he has a marijuana problem?”

“No, no. Not that I know of anyway,” Luther reassured. “But we got him sober and then-- I don’t remember exactly who came up with the idea, but dad got him a house in the suburbs.”

Diego laughed and pointed at him, “Okay, you had me going, good joke. Can you imagine? Klaus living in the suburbs. Good joke, Number One.”

Luther crossed his arms, “It’s not a joke. We got him a house. As long as he stayed sober dad would pay for it. Or he already owned it? I don’t know, but the house wasn’t haunted and now uh, Klaus won’t leave his neighborhood?”

“The house,” Pogo corrected. “Master Klaus doesn’t leave his house.”

“Oh that is worse,” Luther agreed.

Meanwhile in the suburbs, Klaus was sprawled on the back of his sofa, blinking slowly and watching some tv judge. Ben came in the front door with the mail in his hands. “Oh, some of our neighbors sent sympathy cards. That’s nice. We’ll have to order some thank you cards.”

“Anyone left me with a grieving casserole yet?” Klaus glanced at his brother. “I would say us, but it’s not like you’d be able to enjoy it.”

Ben shrugged, “Not yet. But I think Mrs. Diastar is making cookies. Maybe they’re for you.”

“Snickerdoodles,” Klaus hummed happily. “She really went all out with the baked goods last Christmas.”

“So you’ve said,” Ben murmured. “Think we should’ve gone to the funeral?”

Klaus snorted, sliding off the sofa to read the cards, “Whatever for? To honor that prick?”

“He did help pay for your _sanctuary_,” Ben pointed out.

Klaus rolled his eyes, “We all know Pogo manages the money. ‘Sides I wouldn’t be surprised if daddy dearest didn’t even know about my little sanctuary. Luther and Pogo, yeah. But listen, you know Pogo set this all up. No way does this have dad’s boney fingers in it. Otherwise my sanctuary would be next to a graveyard and not much of an actual sanctuary.”

“You have a point,” Ben agreed. After a pause, he said, “I think we should’ve gone to the funeral. Seen the family, you know?”

“Yeah? Think they missed lil’ ol’ me?” Klaus asked sarcastically.

“Luther probably has,” Ben said.

Klaus paused. There was a chance of that. For about a year Luther made sure to visit Klaus at least once a week, if not multiple times. He’d helped move furniture, fix the plumbing, move a tree stump. He’d also listened to Klaus’s problems, brought him his favorite pastries, bought the board game Life and played it.

Luther got really into the Game of Life.

“Well he’ll be back now, yeah? He can come visit. Because, I don’t-- uh, well you know--” Klaus’s voice rose with each word until he left it a very high pitched mumbling.

Ben gave a sad smile but his eyes were full of understanding, “I know.” Klaus gave an exaggerated nod. “No ghosts here, huh?” 

“Except you,” Klaus said in a small voice, looking down at his feet and wringing his hands together, feeling anxious at the thought of other ghosts. 

“Except me,” Ben agreed.

Klaus nodded and let out a little hum. Benny was too good to him. If he was in Ben’s position he wouldn’t have put up with his shit. Klaus knew that he wasn’t doing good, that he was a disappointment. He didn’t even leave the house anymore. Since he could make Ben corporeal, Ben would go out and get the mail, he’d do the gardening, he’d greet the neighbors. Some of the neighbors probably knew that Klaus was pathetic and afraid of the outside but some must have thought he had really bad allergies. 

“Should we dig in the closet and find Life? For when Luther visits?” Klaus hesitantly looked up at his brother who was giving a soft smile.

“Sounds good.”

.

“Okay, so where is this house?” Diego asked. 

“I told you, the suburbs,” Luther replied.

Rolling his eyes, Diego poked Luther in the chest, “No shit Sherlock. Obviously we all need to see this. God, I bet it's an elaborate prank and Klaus will jump out at us, making fun the whole time.”

“No, it’s not a prank.”

“Then we need to go there to help him,” Vanya said. “Being indoors all the time isn’t good. He may even need to start seeing a therapist to help him through this.”

“He used to go outside,” Luther said. “Before I left, he’d go in his yard or if I was with him, we’d take walks in the neighborhood. He even had a few backyard parties. It, during the year I was here, it moved slow. His -- this thing. Or it seemed to? To me. But then he stopped having the parties or going on walks. Said he didn’t want to run into any ghosts.” He shrugged.

“We should go there and help him,” Allison said. “Show him our support.”

“He may not like all of us there at once,” Luther said slowly. “It may be the most human interaction -- beyond Ben --”

The three other siblings all yelled out their brother’s name.

“Klaus always said Ben was with him, and he was sober when I left,” Luther shrugged.

“Master Ben is in fact with Master Klaus,” Pogo added and all eyes went to him. “Master Klaus has been able to bring Master Ben into the physical realm and now Master Ben takes care of any errands outside of the house. I believe, while this was a great accomplishment for Master Klaus, it aided his downfall.”

Just then there was a loud noise from outside, the siblings gathered together only to be met with Five.

.

“Do you want to put a water feature in our backyard?” Klaus asked, watching a couple get a reno on their house. 

Ben looked over to his brother, hoping that this could become progress, that this would mean Klaus was thinking about going outside, “Would you want to go sit by it?”

Klaus shrugged, looking away, “Maybe?” So, doubtful then. He’d look at it through the windows, maybe. If it was a good day. “I just thought maybe you’d want one? They seem popular.”

Ben debated if getting a water feature would end up helping Klaus, maybe he’d be able to convince him to go out and stick his feet in the pond or get some koi fish to feed. So far he hadn’t been able to coax him outside to look at the plants. (“I can see them from here, Benny. If you want you can pick me a bouquet. We can put it in a vase like _civilized_ people instead of a drinking glass if you wanted.”) He wouldn’t be able to bring the pond or fish inside to see Klaus. Not that Ben expected Klaus to go outside as soon as the feature was put in. He’d have to work hard to get Klaus to enter even his own backyard.

His agoraphobia had grown slowly and Ben hadn’t known how to stop it. Even reassuring him that there were no ghosts on the block, he wouldn't go outside. Ben thought that the worst was that Klaus knew he was being silly (“stupid”) by not leaving the house which made his depression and anxiety worse. The last time he’d gone out to check the mail he’d had a panic attack when a kid rode by on a bike and waved at him.

But this was a step up from the drugs, homelessness, and sex with strangers. So there was that.

“Well, maybe we shouldn’t get one,” Klaus broke into Ben’s thoughts. “I mean, unless like you and Luther put it in because uh, one of the workers might, um, bring some unwanted visitors by and I can’t, it’s just--”

It hurt Ben to see Klaus stumble over his words and have such anxiety over the idea of another ghost, “I know, Klaus. I know.”

And then, they saw something they never thought they’d see again.

Five appeared. 

In their living room.

“Five?” Ben hoped he wasn’t dead. He’d appeared as if it was his power, but he hadn’t aged a day.

“What the fuck?” Klaus asked. Ben noted that his hands were shaking. 

“Everyone back home is an idiot,” Five said. “Had to get away, figured your house would be safe, no one would look for me here.”

“Again, what the fuck?” Klaus said. “Since when are you back? Oh shit, are you dead?”

Five rolled his eyes, “No, I’m not dead. And I got back today.”

“From where?” Ben asked, knowing he was fully corporeal.

“The future. It’s shit by the way,” Five looked around their living room.

“Called it,” Klaus shrugged. 

“Also the others are all arguing over you,” Five sat down in a chair. “Most want to come en masse to see you while Number One says it’d be better if they don’t all show up at once. Just as a heads up in case he loses the argument.”

Ben agreed with Luther. As much as he wanted to see his siblings, he didn’t think it’d be good for Klaus to be surrounded by them all at once. If they did show up maybe he’d meet them outside and explain. Ben was already worried about the sudden appearance of Five would do to Klaus. At least if Luther showed up it would be somewhat expected. But Five coming in, using his powers to blink in, would not go well. 

“Oh, well thanks for the warning, bro,” Klaus said, trying to keep his tone light. He didn’t want Five to know, to feel guilty. Klaus was glad to see Five, he really was, it was amazing seeing Five agian, but it would’ve been nice to _prepare_ for it. 

His skin felt tight.

Klaus glanced at Ben. He knew, of course he did. Ben could read Klaus easily anymore, often anticipating what Klaus needed before he even knew. God, he really was pathetic. Seeing your brother many years after his disappearance should be a _good thing_! Not something that made him feel bad. 

He wasn’t sure if he was fooling Five either.

And then--

A woman appeared, she was dressed in 1860’s clothes. Looked like she was a worker, laundry perhaps. And she was dead, shot in the head. 

Next--

A man, either from the 80’s punk scene or just really liked the look. Also dead, shot in the head.

But wait, there’s more--

A 1950’s housewife who looked a lot like their mom. Dead, shot in the head.

And--

He couldn’t breathe. 

More dead showed up, drawn to Klaus. Drawn by Five. Five who looked thirteen but if the 30 year old man was to believed, he wasn’t thirteen, and he’d killed him. He’d killed them all. They followed him now, when they could. 

Ghosts following his siblings was not unheard of. Usually after so long they would stop, bored of following a kid around. Ben had always had more than the others. Klaus made sure to have none. But they’d never had any like this. Most of these were totally innocent, wanting to know _why_ he killed them. _Why_ them? It was _unfair_. 

Klaus agreed.

It was unfair.

He still couldn’t breathe.

Klaus wasn’t sure what he was doing, other than panicking. He knew that. _That_ was obvious. But there were suddenly so many ghosts and they were so loud and so needy and _Five killed them all._

Ben had taken action as soon as the first ghost appeared. 

But he knew he wouldn’t be fast enough, just one ghost could set Klaus back for a while. He opened his mouth to tell the ghost to leave when a second showed up. Then another, and another.

Five looked confused as to why Klaus had frozen and started hyperventilating. Started shaking. Taking small steps, he had started to walk backwards, pleading almost nonsense, just a string of _please, no, stop_. He started to pull himself inward, shoulders tightening, hunching down on himself, arms up against his body as he reached up to cover his ears and close his eyes, still not breathing right.

“What--?” Five started to ask.

“It’s nice to see you Five, glad you’re alive. Alive, unlike you’re entourage,” Ben narrowed his eyes at Five as he made his way towards Klaus. “So it would be great if you left now and took your fanbase with you.” His voice was hard and harsh. Not letting room for an argument come in.

Five took in the scene of Klaus before him and nodded, “I -- I’m sorry.” With that he left. He couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been. According to Luther, Klaus had a severe case of agoraphobia because of the ghosts. He should have known he’d have ghosts following him. He was supposed to be a genius, yet he made this stupid mistake. Finding himself back at the mansion he thought he should track down his siblings and tell them to listen to Luther.

(Even when killing people, he’d never seen anyone as afraid as Klaus had been.)

.

Klaus came back to himself slowly. He was being told he was safe by Ben. Ben’s arms were around him and Ben was breathing, which was weird, Ben didn’t usually breathe so notably. Then Klaus realized his breathing matched Ben’s. He was on the kitchen floor, under the table with the chairs pulled around him, protecting him like a second wall, keeping the outside away. 

That was good. 

An extra layer of protection would be needed, until Klaus _knew_ that they weren’t coming back. 

“You’re safe. They’re gone. See? No one here but the two of us,” Ben said, trying to keep his voice as calm and soothing as possible. It was a tone he’d started using when Klaus was still doing drugs and needed talked to during a bad batch.

Klaus nodded, “Are you sure? Did you check?”

Ben’s fingers twitched, now knowing that Klaus was back with him, “I’m sure. Do you want me to check again?” He hadn’t checked, but he didn’t hear any of them. They’d all seemed to leave with Five, like he’d hoped they would.

Klaus’s hands gripped Ben tight. If Ben had circulation he’d be worried about it, “No, you can’t leave. It isn’t safe, Ben.”

“It is, they’re all gone. I promise,” Ben wished he could do more to fight Klaus’s fears. He had wondered before if Klaus would be able to handle his powers better if it wasn’t for their father’s training. Would he have been able to learn to keep the ghosts away? To block them somehow? He knew it was silly to think about, an alternate history where Klaus’s life wasn’t ruled by his fear.

“But now they know where I am,” Klaus’s voice sounded innocent, a young child scared of the monster under the bed. The table and chairs acting as the blankets would to the frightened child. “They can come back. _Now they know where I am._”

.

They finally agreed to not storm the suburbs and let Luther go alone. After what Five reported, after Five told them to listen to Luther, after Five--

Well they were willing to take it slow.

Five had not gone into much detail. Ben was there, he spoke to their dead brother, and then he had to watch as _he caused_ Klaus to have a panic attack. Five hadn’t said so much out loud, how he blamed himself, but they could clearly read it on their brother. Even though he’d been gone and had changed, he was still there brother.

So Luther found himself outside Klaus’s. The upkeep on the outside was beautiful. The gutters looked clean, the flowers outside in full bloom, no grass growing in the cracks of the sidewalk. Seemed like Ben kept a good handle on the matience. 

Ben.

Luther was going to see Ben.

Before the moon, Luther ended up fully believing that Ben was haunting Klaus. It was hard not to. But he never thought he’d ever see his brother, talk to him without Klaus as a go-between. But now--

He knocked.

After a few minutes the door opened and Luther had thought he’d be prepared to see Ben but he obviously hadn’t been. He froze for a second, brain trying to argue that no, this can’t be Ben, Ben’s dead. Then he smiled and reached out, wondering if Ben was currently solid, how did it work, was he always visible? Could Ben control it, or was it based on Klaus’s whims. Did Klaus have to consciously make Ben visible? Why would he do that if it was just the two of them?

They hugged.

Luther cried.

After, “Is it okay if I come in?”

Ben couldn’t help but give Luther another hug at the question. He had probably been told by Pogo how bad Klaus was, by Five about the day before. He didn’t try and force his way in to see Klaus, he simply asked if it was okay. Ben knew that if he had told Luther no that Luther would nod and give a sad smile before leaving. He trusted that Ben would know what was and wasn’t okay, Luther having been gone for four years making him lost in navigating Klaus and his eccentricities. “He’s been wanting to see you. We even dug out Life in preparation.”

Luther perked up, “Really?”

“Yeah, but just--” Ben paused, trying to think of what exactly he wanted to say. “He’s changed a lot and yesterday was-- _not good_ and he’s still dealing with that, okay?”

“Of course,” Luther nodded. “Let me know if I end up doing something wrong or say something or--” he shrugged, “you know.”

“We’re hanging out in the basement.” Ben led him inside, grabbing the game on the way. 

The basement was brightly lit, lots of soft chairs, a table, a second television. The carpet was plush against Luther’s socked feet. He heard Klaus before he saw him.

“Did Mrs. Diastar drop off some cookies?”

Klaus was small. He had to have been folded in on himself, a position Luther had seen him take out of protection. Make yourself a smaller target. He was also wrapped up in a blanket, the only part of him visible was his face and some fingers holding the blanket closed. It made his eyes seem bigger than usual. He was watching tv, a full tub of popcorn sat next to him, untouched.

“No, but we have a visitor,” Ben said.

Luther would have turned and left if Ben hadn’t put a hand on his arm. At the news of a visitor Klaus visibly flinched and grasped his blanket tighter. Luther could now clearly see the outline of his sharp shoulders from how the blanket cradled him. He’d closed his eyes tight and muttered something to himself.

_(”It’s fine, Ben’s here. Ben approved the person.”)_

“Hi, Klaus,” Luther said quietly. 

Klaus’s eyes flew open and he turned to fully face him. “Luther.” His tone was soft and happy. He scooted over on the sofa, but kept the blanket pulled close, “Sit! _Sit!_ Look! I’ve made room.”

There had been room before with how Klaus was folded up, but Luther wasn’t going to mention that. Instead he sat down where Klaus clearly wanted him to.

Klaus knew he was being stupid, the blanket wouldn’t keep ghosts away, his basement wouldn’t keep ghosts away, the lack of windows wouldn’t keep ghosts away. But the blanket felt like a layer of protection, _they couldn’t touch him_; the basement was underground and not every house had one, _how would they know he was down here, look the house is empty_; all of his windows had heavy curtains he could pull closed, _because what if they saw him in the house, if they couldn’t see in the windows they couldn’t know he was there and he would be safe._ He’d slept down here. He’d ate down here. He hadn’t gone upstairs but to use the bathroom. And when he did he had Ben come with. He needed Ben to keep an eye out for _them_. 

God, his house wasn’t safe anymore. 

But the basement was better than anywhere else. The safest. Blanket wrapped around him, back always to something. Do look around, can’t let them sneak up on you.But also: don’t look around, if they don’t see you looking they might not realize you can see them. Why did the rules have to counteract each other? Why couldn’t it be simple? One or the other, but not both. 

The worst was he knew, logically, that this was all dumb. His stupid rules wouldn’t matter. Wouldn’t keep him _safe_. The dead didn’t follow rules, the dead didn’t care. They just wanted him, wanted to take him apart and split him open and spread him around, slowly killing him. 

The dead wanted him dead.

Klaus almost laughed at that.

“I brought down the game,” Ben said, sitting in a chair on Klaus’s other side. 

He was safer now. Surrounded by his brothers, one on each side. Klaus smiled, “Excellent. I’m just watching some trash tv anyways, so let's do this, yeah?” He looked to Luther, “Can you stay and play?”

“I don’t have any other plans today,” Luther said.

Well if that didn't make Klaus feel special. 

.

The Game of Life had been a silly purchase. Luther wanted to get Klaus a house warming gift and he’d found himself in toy aisle in the store, staring at board games. Monopoly (sounded boring), Trouble (Klaus was that already no need for a game of it), Sorry! (why would anyone play a game called Sorry!?), The Game of Life (that was promising). Klaus was starting a new chapter in his life, as long as he stayed sober, and the idea of playing a game where you got a job, got married, had kids probably sounded boring to other people but to Luther it sounded exotic. Maybe Klaus would agree.

So he’d bought it.

The three of them would play it, Klaus moving the pieces for Ben. 

It was cathartic, playing the game. Being able to be normal, even through a board game was fun. They could go to university, become an astronaut or hair stylist. Buy a home and get married, have kids. Grow old. 

It was something none of them would ever fully experience, and as they played they would always come up with stories as to how the game went. What they thought of their job, how things were going with the spouse, naming the kids. They’d keep track of it all, having more fun making up hypothetical stories about their lives than trying to beat each other. 

They always had fun with it.

It was more fun when Ben could move his little car around himself and Klaus didn’t have to repeat his stories so that Luther knew what was going on with his _life_.

Since playing and keeping the blanket on at the same time was hard for Klaus, Luther took his large overcoat off and draped it over his brother. A little bit of protection for him. While Luther didn’t like taking off his layers around other people, Klaus and Ben had known about what the serum did to save his life. At first Luther had hated it, he sometimes still did, but Klaus had made it clear how he and Ben were so happy that he survived the accident and it was thanks to that serum that he wasn’t haunting Klaus like Ben was. It did help Luther accept what was done to him, not that he was suddenly okay with people seeing his body. But he was okay with them seeing it. They knew.

Klaus looked even smaller than when he was folded up on himself when he was in Luther’s coat. It swamped him and hung off him and he kept almost knocking stuff over with the sleeves. But it smelled like his brother, it was weighty, it was warm. Whenever he reached out from his blanket cocoon his hands would shake, but within a few minutes of being surrounded by Luther’s coat his hands stopped shaking. He was relaxing. He was finally relaxing.

(Not even smoking some weed had helped relax him.)

But playing Life with his brothers, safe in his basement, the coat making him feel surrounded by his strongest brother, there to protect him? 

It helped.

More than he could say.

Throughout the day Luther had realized that whatever had happened with Five was possibly worse than he first thought when it became clear that Klaus wouldn’t leave the basement unless he had to go to the bathroom. If they needed more drinks or snacks, Ben went. And while Ben was gone Luther could tell that Klaus was on edge. He’d keep looking to the stairs, waiting for Ben to reappear. He’d hold himself ridgedly, only relaxing once more when Ben was back in sight.

It broke Luther’s heart.

He shouldn’t have ever gone to the moon. Should have told their dad that a mission of monitoring the moon wasn’t as important as Klaus. But when he left he thought it was going to be okay. Sure, Klaus had been going out less during that time, but he still went out. Luther had hoped--

He’d hoped.

.

Luther was glad that Klaus wasn’t around when the two masked people invaded the Academy He wished Vanya hadn’t been there, but he was thankful that she got out of there safe.

.

“Well that was a disaster,” Cha Cha said, letting herself into their hotel room. She eyed the donut Hazel was eating but didn’t say anything. Those freaks were tough. None of them seemed to teleport like the old man did but they had to have some sort of powers as well. That one guy had been built like a tank and the other could hit her with a knife after she turned the corner. This was not a normal job.

“Yeah, he wasn’t even at the house,” Hazel added, powdered sugar stuck in his beard.

“Check and see where all he went before he took his tracker out,” Cha Cha ordered.

Hazel grumbled but did as he was told, “Most of it makes sense, but he was at the suburbs for a little bit. He popped over there and back to and from that mansion.”

“What's in the suburbs?” Cha Cha intended to find out. 

.

“He’s probably a freak like the rest. Got the sedatives ready?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter is so much shorter than the previous but like, this was such a perfect spot to end it.

Luther wanted to take Vanya to see Klaus. Out of their other siblings she would be the best choice for slowly integrating Klaus back in with the family. She was ordinary. She wouldn’t have ghosts following her around. She was quiet and soft spoken, she wouldn’t scare Klaus. She wouldn’t end up yelling at Klaus to go just go outside and suck it up. 

Luther wasn’t sure Diego would do that, but he also wouldn’t have been surprised. He often showed his love through gruffer and harsher ways. His words and actions not matching up. Which used to be fine, Luther remembered they were close once, him and Klaus. But it had been years, he hadn’t even known Klaus was sober and living in a house. Things had changed and based on what Luther saw of Klaus, what he needed right now was a calming presence, and that was not Diego.

So Luther found himself outside of Vanya’s apartment. 

He really should have looked in on her more. But after they had found Klaus and got him better he found that a lot of his time had been spent with his brothers.

He could make amends though. 

Knocking on her door, he hoped she didn’t have plans already.

“Luther?” She asked, opening her door. “Is everything okay?”

Luther nodded, “Yes, but I was hoping that, as long as you were free, you’d visit Klaus with me today.”

“You want _me_ to come with you and visit?” Vanya was very surprised.

Luther smiled, “Why not? You’re our sister.”

She looked down for a second, grinning to herself, “Okay. I was going to meet up with a new friend over coffee but this is more important.”

.

Klaus had been alone when they came. 

Ben was outside, watering his plants. Klaus hadn’t wanted to be left alone but Ben hadn’t watered the plants the previous day, not leaving Klaus’s side to do so. But that didn’t mean Klaus wanted him to leave his side that day but if he didn’t give his plants some attention they may be on the verge of dying.

Klaus wasn’t sure if he could see dead plants, he never had before, but he’d also never been the cause of their deaths. He knew it was stupid but he didn’t want to take the chance of a ghost plant haunting him. 

Fuck ghost plants weren’t real why did he have to worry about ghost plants.

So Klaus had wanted to look out the windows and keep an eye on Ben because what if someone saw Ben and knew he was a ghost? What if it was another ghost? But he couldn’t stand near the windows. What if the ghosts saw him? Or a living person? 

It wasn’t safe.

_He wasn’t safe._

And he was right.

Klaus found out how right he was when he woke up in a hotel room. Surrounded by ghosts.

He felt sluggish, copper taste in his mouth, blinking heavily. It wasn’t something he’d felt like for years. Had he relapsed? (Weed doesn’t count, it doesn’t stop the ghosts, it just calms his nerves.) But no, he didn’t relapse, because _he was surrounded by ghosts_. Whatever was happening was new.

There were _so many_ and they were all talking at once and he wanted _out_ and _away_ but he couldn’t move. He was duct taped to a chair. Was daddy back? Was this him trying to train him again? He’d come back and made himself corporeal like Ben did and then tie him up and bought the ghosts? Ghost Reggie probably couldn’t get him to a mausoleum so this would’ve been the next best thing. 

But Reg wasn’t around, he wasn’t in his face, saying how much of a failure he was. Which, thanks_ papa_, he knew he was. It was really hard to not know how much of a failure he was when he couldn’t leave his house because of a fear he really should have gotten over years ago. He was stupid, and weak, and let his life be ruled by _fear_. 

He idly wondered why he wasn’t going into a full panic attack like he had the other day. 

Probably the drug they gave him.

He also just got slapped.

Trying not to panic too much, he saw two ghosts in masks standing in front of him, as if ring leaders. The masked ones had _touched him_. 

And then Ben was there, in front of the masked ghosts. “Klaus, look at me, hey, eyes on me. I need you to focus and make me corporeal, I can get you out of here.”

Klaus nodded, “Please, I want to go home.”

“I know, so focus up, buddy.”

Klaus _was focusing_. He was focusing so much on Ben he didn’t hear whatever the masked ghost said but the ghost reached through Ben and hit Klaus again. Why couldn’t Ben just make himself corporeal like normal, like these two masked ones?

“Because they’re alive,” Ben replied. “They drugged you and I can’t make myself corporeal without your help, like when we first started, yeah? I’m sorry Klaus, but they are alive.”

So the ghosts were their ghosts. 

At that moment Klaus knew two things.

First, Luther would be looking for him. He said he was going to visit again and when he saw that Klaus _wasn’t home_ he would know something was _wrong._

Second, Klaus would probably be dead by the time Luther found him. Based on the amount of ghosts, based on all of their death wounds, he was about to be murdered.

At least it wouldn’t be _his_ carpet stained with his blood.

.

The door wasn’t closed all the way. Frowning, Luther pushed it open slowly, “Klaus? Ben?” He was met with silence. “Stick close to me,” Luther told Vanya, entering the house.

He had a bad feeling.

_The door had been left open._

The first place Luther checked was the basement. There was a half eaten peanut butter and chips sandwich, an almost empty can of soda, a joint that had burnt itself up, ashes in a neat line. 

Vanya had looked upstairs. She saw signs of Klaus. And there was no doubt that this was Klaus’s house. Not that she hadn’t believed Luther when he said Klaus was living in the suburbs, but it had seemed unlikely. 

She also had found signs of Ben.

She almost cried when she saw the shopping list with Ben’s handwriting on it.

“He’s been taken,” Luther said, appearing by her side. 

“Maybe they went on a walk around town?” Vanya suggested, “You said he used to, maybe Pogo’s information was wrong and he still goes on walks?”

Luther shook his head. His heart felt tight with worry. _He knew_ someone had taken Klaus. Even before Klaus’s agoraphobia was bad he wouldn’t have left the house unlocked, he wouldn’t have left a half eaten sandwich. But after the day before, he was more certain than ever.

Klaus hadn’t even left the safety of the basement to walk Luther to the door.

Ben had explained quickly as he saw him out, how bad Klaus had gotten and how he would be lucky if he would be able to get Klaus to come upstairs for more than a bathroom break. How he thought that Luther visiting was a good thing, _very good_, and how he wanted him to try and come daily. He explained how he was sorry but he couldn’t give a long goodbye, he would need to lock the door when Luther left and get back to Klaus’s side.

Luther had seen how Klaus was tense whenever Ben had left the basement. And that was with Luther beside him. Luther had nodded, given Ben a tight hug and promised to come back.

But now that he was back, Klaus and Ben were _missing_. 

“No, Vanya. You don’t understand. There is _no way_ he willingly left the house.”

Those masked freaks must have found out about Klaus.

He was going to have a chat with Five about his coworkers.

.

“I don’t know anything,” Klaus mumbled when they paused the torture. “Five was at my house for two seconds.” He closed his eyes. The pain from the torture was keeping him _present_, was stopping him from having a panic attack, kept him from disassociating. All he could do was feel his skin pulse where they had punched, burnt, kicked, tore, cut, strangled. 

They said something once more. 

It was really hard to make out what his captors were saying when the ghosts wouldn’t _shut up_. Plus his head was pounding. 

“Would you all just shut up!” A few ghosts quieted a bit. 

Ben perked up, “Klaus, do you think the drugs are out of your system? Some of them are listening to you.”

Klaus shook his head, “I dunno, Ben. Never gotten them to shut up before so I don’t know why it’d mean anything now.” Klaus noted that the two masked ghosts (no, not ghosts) were having a conversation and gesturing to him.

He was waterboarded before Ben could reply.

That was a new experience. The rest of it was easy, he’d been hurt so much in his life. Be it from his father, being a superhero, from when he was a junkie. The strangulation had brought back some fun memories. 

At least he wasn’t as thirsty now, “Thanks, I really needed that.”

God their ghosts wouldn’t _shut up_. Obviously he couldn’t help them, he was just like them. Soon to join, unless his family found him first. Thankfully he wasn’t a betting man because he wasn’t sure which would be true.

If Klaus was a braver man he would tell Ben to check up on Luther, see if the calvary was coming. But-- then he’d be alone. He couldn’t be alone. Not now. Surrounded by his worst nightmare, being tortured, no longer in his _sanctuary_. 

The only things keeping Klaus from spiraling was Ben, the hope that Luther would be looking for him, whatever drugs the kidnappers gave him. 

He really wondered what it was. He’d never taken anything like it before, he felt heavy and he knew he couldn’t manifest Ben but he could still see _all_ the ghosts. All the drugs he’d taken before shut off his powers completely. Not partially. 

He wanted one or the other. Either shut his powers down completely so he’s not being tortured both physically and mentally or have it not affect him at all so Ben could save him. 

God if only Ben could save him. Killing the two living, making those ghosts go away, then protecting Klaus while he has the meltdown he felt building. . 

When they managed to get out of here and back home Klaus wondered if he’d be okay left alone when Ben watered the plants. Probably not. Would he have to go out with Ben as he watered? But then he’d be outside and even if Ben held his hand the whole time-- 

While he technically had been outside recently, he woke up in the motel. As far as he was concerned he never went out. They could teleport like Five and take him from his home to the torture motel. Klaus wasn’t sure why that sounded better than them moving him like a normal person would. The idea of the two killers having Five’s power was horrific, but so was the idea that he’d been _outside_. Especially since he was unconscious for it. _Anything could have happened_. Maybe some of these ghosts belonged so some poor souls who saw him on the street and followed. Klaus couldn’t be sure.

What he did know was that he wanted that babushka to shut up.

.

“Klaus is missing,” Luther said, entering the room. “And I just know it was those freaks in the masks.” He stared down at Five.

Five’s brow furrowed, “Klaus is missing?”

“We searched his house,” Vanya said. “He wasn’t there.”

“Maybe he’s not as house-bound as everyone says,” Diego shrugged.

Five shook his head, “No, he wouldn’t just leave. He was so afraid of the ghosts, Diego. I saw that much when I visited him. There is no way he would risk-- _Shit._”

“What is it?”

_”I visited him,_” Five said glaring at the floor. “My tracker was still in my arm. I’d forgotten about it--”

“What tracker?” Luther demanded.

“--Cha Cha and Hazel must have checked my locations. They knew about him because of _me._” God damn it, he had just wanted to see his brother. He’d wanted to help protect him. Protect the world. And now not only did he cause Klaus to have a panic attack, but because of him he was in Cha Cha and Hazel’s clutches.

“We have to find him,” Five said. “Cha Cha and Hazel are the best. Besides me. Not only are they probably torturing him right now, but between the two of them? The amount of ghosts would be far greater than my own.”

Luther thought about what Klaus was like after Five’s visit. The idea that Klaus was going through so much worse without any of them there to help him through it made him want to punch something. Possibly punch Five. Definitely punch Cha Cha and Hazel.

Luckily they had Five on their side, he had inside knowledge on how the Commission worked. “The problem is there are a lot of hotels and motels that fit the criteria.” But they tended to use the same ones over and over (if you asked Five that was a mistake, they shouldn’t have any sort of a routine even when time traveling). And while Five had never been sent to any missions in the same years his siblings were alive, he still had an idea to some of the names of places they were possibly set up at. 

Five called around, describing Hazel and Cha Cha.

_He got lucky on the fifth call._

.

He didn’t talk to the ghosts, Ben did though. He spoke to them for Klaus and then told Klaus what to tell the two living. Thank Christ Ben was around to play telephone. Even though Klaus could clearly hear them, he just _couldn’t_ have direct conversations with any ghost besides Ben. If he did-- if he had talked to them _himself_\-- if he spoke to a ghost-- _directly_\--

This was bad enough. He was having trouble repeating what Ben said, “Forward, Reverse”. It was like a chant going through the room. The ghost started, then Ben, Klaus joining in, then the woman agreeing, joining the song and dance. 

He just wanted out. _Away_. It was not an ideal situation. Most of the ghosts weren’t doing as told, weren’t using Ben as a go between and they still yelled, cried, begged Klaus. They were in his face, making it hard to keep it together. Harder to focus on Ben and the stories he was using to split up his captors, “He says to say thank you. He was so grateful to you, Hazel. For sparing his wife.” He turned to Ben, “You know, there might be hope for him yet. Don’t you think?”

Somehow it worked. He was the only living left in the room. 

“Focus on me, Klaus,” Ben begged like the rest of the dead. God, was he just like the others? Had he lost his brother now? Being around other ghosts tainting Ben? Oh god, he’d ruined his brother its all his fault he lost his brother now he was just like the others and there would be nothing left of Klaus and ohgodheneeded-- “You need to breathe. Calm down. It’s okay, hmm? You’ll be okay, Klaus.”

Ben watched as Klaus’s panic started taking control. While he didn’t want to see his brother tailspin and come undone, it could mean the drugs were wearing off and if Klaus could focus on Ben, and only Ben, “You can manifest me and then I can get you out of here.”

Klaus nodded, eyes closed and muttering to himself. “Just you though? No one else.”

“No one else,” Ben agreed.

“Okay, okay. Just Ben. Only Ben,” Klaus muttered to himself, _focusing_ past the panic. God what if he fucked up, like he always did, and made more than Ben manifest? It was so hard to focus with all the ghosts yelling at him, wanting him to make them corporeal too. Don’t they deserve it? They could help. They could do things to Cha Cha. To Hazel. To him. Wouldn’t he like to join them? To be free? _They could free him._

Klaus hunkered down as much as he could, trying to block them all out. Ben was repeating all the calming phrases he’d picked up over the years. He just had to bring Ben, and Ben only, into the living realm. 

He was being pulled up and forward by _someone_. No, no no no nonononono-- pulled into a hug. Ben was hugging him. He was _free_ and Ben was hugging him. 

He was shaking.

They didn’t have time for Klaus to get himself under control, he had to get out of there but he couldn’t move. If he moved, he’d be closer to the ghosts. He was stuck. They’d come out of the bathroom and kill him and he’d be with all the other ghosts, always. He would be stuck following them around, hanging out with roadkill guy. This would become his life. His un-life. Never to be safe again, always with the ghosts, always--

“Klaus, hey. We don’t have much time.”

Klaus nodded but didn't movie. His breath hitched.

They were by the door. 

He couldn’t go out of the door.

“Okay, okay, that’s fine, Klaus,” Ben comforted, “You don’t have to use the door, look, the vent is clear. Let’s crawl through there, okay?”

“Okay,” Klaus agreed, his movements stuttering.

There was a briefcase in the way.

.

They’d fought.

They’d won.

Five’s coworkers were dead.

And Klaus was _still missing._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry?

Klaus knew two things.

First, it was dark. His eyes would adjust to the darkness, he’d been found in such lighting enough times to know that. He’d just have to wait.

Second, he was alone. Ben wasn’t-- Ben was--_ Ben--_

It was hot. Wherever he was. Humid. He could hear snoring very close, and chatting nearby. Ghosts _screaming_. They were so loud. It was far away, like a thunderstorm you knew was approaching. 

Eyes adjusted, he was in a tent. Men were sleeping in cots. Not something new to him. It had been a while since he last saw something similar, but it wasn’t unusual. 

The loud gunfire and sirens were new though.

Everyone bolted awake, yelling started. Klaus froze. He didn’t know what was happening. Who were ghosts, who was alive. _He was outside_. 

He wasn’t safe.

Dave woke up to sirens and yelling, something he’d gotten used to. What was new was the stranger standing beside him having a meltdown. The meltdown wasn’t new, everyone had those, Dave even had a few, but the man was new. 

“Hey, friend,” Dave said, trying to get his attention without spooking him. The guy’s eyes darted to his, “Hi. I’m going to put my hand on your shoulder, okay?” He waited a second and when the guy didn’t say no or jerk back, he reached out. He ran his hand up and down the guy’s arm in, what he hoped was a soothing motion. “I’m Dave.”

“Klaus,” Klaus’s eyes flickered around the tent. 

“You just get in country?” Dave figured he must be new. It’s when men usually had more attacks like this. More often than not they went away over time. That or they hid them better. 

“Yeah,” Klaus’s voice was hesitant. Scared.

Dave pulled him closer, wrapping an arm around him, “Don’t worry, I’ll watch out for you.”

Dave would keep him safe.

Dave would--

_Dave would keep him safe._

“Okay,” Klaus agreed readily. He stood still, not wanting him or Dave to follow the others in leaving the tent. The tent wasn’t safe but it was better than whatever and wherever was just outside the tent.

Also he was still in the middle of a panic attack.

Dave looked his new friend over. He looked rough, like he hadn’t been sleeping in the tent with everyone else. His shirt had been cut? tore? open and he had a number of injuries. Bruises and blood everywhere. 

_What had happened?_ Dave waved a distracted hand towards their sergeant who was making sure everyone was coming. He trusted Dave enough to know he was busy. While they needed men to shoot, they didn’t need men in the middle of a breakdown, causing the others to worry and become anxious, or crying out and making the VC notice where they were. 

“It’ll be okay,” Dave tried. “You’ll be okay, Klaus.”

Klaus shook his head. It was only a matter of time before _they_ found him. A wall of fabric wouldn’t keep the ghosts away (neither would a real wall, they were ghosts after all). But as long as he stayed in the tent maybe they wouldn’t see him. Wouldn’t know to come and howl at him. He could hear them now, almost blocking out the sounds of gunfire and explosions. _They were so loud._ “No, there’s too many.” He clung to Dave.

“Hey, you look like you’ve been injured. We need to get you over to medical,” Dave suggested. Not only did Klaus need his injuries looked at but maybe they could give him something to help calm him down. Hyperventilating was not good, especially for long periods of time. Much of Dave’s horror, as soon as he spoke, Klaus got obviously worse.

“No,” Klaus shook his head. “We should stay _here_. It’s safe here. I can’t go to medical, I can’t--” He couldn’t breathe. Oh god, he was going to die here, away from Ben. Ben would never know what happened to him. He’d become a ghost and he’d have to search for Ben to let him know what happened. That he was awful and died because he couldn’t _fucking_ behave like an adult. He couldn’t breathe. Ben had to be worried. Without Klaus around would Ben become like the others? Like he thought he had already? He was stupid for thinking Ben would have turned on him back there at the motel. But without him? By the time Klaus found him again?

Oh god, he couldn’t breathe.

What if _he_ became like the others. A mindless ghost, roaming and screaming and never finding anyone alive who could see him. Never finding Ben before he became his worst nightmare. 

He’d become one of them--

_He couldn’t breathe_.

“Okay, nope. We can stay here,” Dave’s voice filtered through his thoughts. “No medical.”

Dave had lowered them to the ground? It seemed so. Klaus was curled up again, but this time wrapped in Dave’s arms. Dave must have been a saint. He’d just met Klaus but he was doing his damndest to calm him down instead of letting the ghosts get him. Klaus was such a fuck up, leaving snot and tears on Dave’s shirt as he clung to him, trying to breathe. But it was hard.

Eventually he could breathe right 90% of the time, still stuttering out a lungful of anxiety once in a while. Dave kept a calming story going, something about his childhood. It was nice. It helped.

Dave would keep him safe.

“Sorry,” Klaus’s fingers tightened for a second before loosening on Dave’s shirt. 

Dave shrugged, “It’s no problem, Klaus. Sometimes we need a little help, nothing wrong with that.”

“I need a bit more than a little help, though. You’ve got to agree to that,” Klaus muttered, voice still shaking.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Dave’s arms pulled him closer.

“Um, not to-- _whatever_ but uh, I don’t know--” He gestured as if to say, _everything_. He didn’t know where he was, how he got there (surely not the briefcase?) what the sound of fighting was about.

“Well, you’re in the 173rd camp. We’re stationed at A Shau Valley,” Dave explained. Klaus nodded, not fulling knowing what that meant. Sounded like an army thing. Which would explain the background thrum of dead. “And it looks like you were tortured recently,” Dave finished.

Klaus let out a chuckle, “Oh, is it that obvious?”

Dave froze for a split second, “I was right?”

Shrugging, Klaus leaned in closer, “You weren’t wrong.”

“Shit, we should get you to medical,” Dave muttered. Klaus wasn’t breathing right again. God, he _just_ got that under control. “Or, I mean, I can get the doc to come here?”

Klaus clutched at Dave. That sounded better. He wouldn’t be leaving the tent, but then _Dave would_ and Dave said he’d keep Klaus safe. But he shouldn’t be a baby about it, he should be able to handle being alone while Dave got a doctor, he should--

But--

“If you leave they might get me,” Klaus whispered, fear tinting his voice.

“No one will get you, I promise,” Dave said. “I know you don’t know me well enough but I never break a promise. No pie crust promises from me.”

“Pie crust promise?” 

“Crumbles easily,” Dave explained.

Klaus giggled. He felt a bit hysterically but considering he was still on the edge of a panic attack he was allowed a hysterical giggle. “I like that.”

“Yeah?” Dave smiled. “Good. Am I allowed to go get the doc then? Promise I won’t be long. His tent is very close. I shouldn’t be away longer than five minutes.”

“Okay,” Klaus agreed hesitantly.

It took some doing to extract Klaus from Dave, because Klaus may have agreed but his body wasn’t too happy with the choice, but eventually Dave was able to go. He’d wrapped Klaus up in a blanket from his cot first and gave him a pillow to hug.

Klaus felt like an idiot. A near stranger had to wrap him up like a toddler having a bad dream to go get the medical professional. He’d just been tortured. Medical should have been first thing on Klaus’s mind. 

While waiting, Klaus decided to look around more, to see if he could find any clues (or Ben). 

The briefcase was there. Just sitting there, beside him. He reached for it, to look it over. He had opened it, saw a flash of light similar to Five’s power and was in an army tent in some valley somewhere. (Somewhen? That clock next to Dave’s cot looked new but was something styled for sixty years ago.)

Before Klaus got a better look at the briefcase, Dave was back with a stranger. Probably alive. Dave acted like the stranger was real, so he probably was. If Dave to could see him. But what if Dave wasn’t alive either? What if Klaus was making a friendly war ghost corporeal? And he hadn’t realized? What if--

“Hey, it’s okay. See? I’m right here. Like I promised. Less than five minutes,” Dave soothed, rubbing his back.

Klaus nodded and swallowed. Right, Dave’s hand felt warm on his back. He wasn’t dead. He wasn’t a ghost. He was safe.

Dave was safe.

“Klaus, this is Doctor Martin,” Dave said. “He agreed to check you over, okay?”

Klaus nodded once more, “Okay.” He didn’t stand up.

The doc sighed and sat down beside him. He gave Klaus a tight smile and coaxed him into untangling his limbs from himself to have a better look. After he cleaned all the blood off, he announced that most of it was superficial. He’d hurt for a long while but none of his bones seemed broken and the one cut that should have had stitches was from at least 24 hours ago and had clotted enough that it may be okay.

Doctor Martin said that he shouldn’t be out to fight for a few days at least. He wouldn’t be able to hold a gun with how sore he’d be. 

Which was fine by Klaus. Honestly he didn’t plan on leaving the tent.

He lived there now.

“Okay, I’m going to give you something to help with the pain and keep you calm,” the doc said.

“Please don’t drug me again,” Klaus was worried that whatever the doctor gave him would be like what Hazel and Cha Cha had. 

Dave felt his heart break. _Please don’t drug me again._ It was obvious Klaus had been through a lot of trauma recently. Drugged and tortured? Possibly still had some of the drugs in his system. It hurt, knowing that someone had hurt Klaus this way. Had hurt him at all. 

He was very glad that Klaus had somehow escaped and found his way to Dave’s tent.

“Okay, no drugs.” He shot a look at the doc. Doctor Martin just raised his hands in defeat.

After a few more minutes the doctor left them alone. Klaus still had the blanket wrapped around him and was still hugging the pillow tight, but he had a grip on Dave’s arm. He knew it was obvious that he _wasn’t okay_. Hopefully Dave would wait a bit before pulling away.

He never pulled away though.

He sat with Klaus all night, willing to talk about mundane things, once in a while trying to find out more about what Klaus had gone through. Dave seemed to be assuming that he’d been kidnapped by Charlie for information, he wanted to know which unit Klaus was part of, was he taken from a town when they were on leave? Was that why he was n civvies? Did they take his dog tags?

This helped Klaus figure out he was in the Viet-_fucking_-nam War. 

When the others came back, they got seen by the doc, some went back to sleep, some stayed up and had breakfast, some were dead. There was a moment where Dave left his side to check on the others, so Klaus took that time to look over the briefcase. 

If this is what brought him to Vietnam then he didn’t know how to work it. He wanted to go home. Where he was safe. 

But--

He wasn’t safe there anymore, was he? 

He’d been _taken_ from there. Hazel and Cha Cha’s ghosts would have seen his house. They’d know go to there. He’d been taken from his home. He’d been outside. He wasn’t safe at home anymore.

But Dave was safe. 

He opened the case. It looked empty but mostly normal. Nothing in it. He did see some instructions that he couldn’t make heads or tails of. Secret code? That would be needed for a time traveling device. By now, Klaus was certain that’s what this was. Only he didn’t know how to work it. 

Probably, he would never figure it out. 

Somehow Klaus had managed to not leave the tent for a while, it had almost been a full day. Most of the other guys kept their distance at Dave’s half true explanations.

But then when it was just him and Dave (and two ghosts of the newly dead that he was steadfastly ignoring) he thought it was time to have a conversation.

Dave had gotten him new clothes, some food and water. He’d been so understanding up to this point and Klaus hoped he’d continue to be understanding. _Please, god. Let him be understanding._

Klaus sat on the cot Dave said he could use and then sat Dave down in the opposite. He still had the blanket wrapped around hm. It wasn’t soft like his at home but it was better than nothing. Sure, he’d overheard some of the other guys make comments about how he must be dying in this heat while still being wrapped up like a mummy but Dave had quieted them easily enough. 

“Dave, maybe you’ve noticed, I don’t know, but I um--” Klaus cleared his throat. He’d never said it outloud before. Ben and Luther just _knew_. Ben had used _the word_ before but he used it sparingly. It made Klaus feel uncomfortable, facing his disorder. It was just a _thing_ now. A fact. The sky is blue, Ben is dead, Klaus doesn’t go outside.

He hadn’t meant for it to take over his life. Contrary to what others may think he missed going outside. He’d spent a lot of time being homeless and it was so normal for him to feel the sun on his skin and wind on his face and rain drenching his hair. The people, the animals, _the ghosts_. 

But Ben never made Klaus say it.

Dave’s face was so open and _kind_. Klaus didn’t deserve for Dave to be so understanding of a broken thing like him.

Dave put a hand on Klaus’s knee, “You’ve been through a lot recently, take your time.”

Klaus almost started crying. While Ben did treat him nice, nicer than he deserved, no one had treated him so kind right away. At first Ben was a big fan of telling Klaus off, trying to motivate with his tough love approach. After a number of panic attacks Ben had started to be more gentle about it all. He still didn’t always have time for Klaus’s dramatics, which was fine. He was being overly dramatic a lot. Surely he was, because Ben told him so. Ben would point out that he could be left alone in the house while Ben cleaned the gutters or watered his plants. And up until he’d been kidnapped Ben had been right. 

He was going to miss Dave being so nice to him. After he found out--

“Come on, it’s okay, Klaus,” Dave said, suddenly beside him, rubbing calming circles on his back. “You’re safe.”

“I’m really not,” Klaus said with a sigh. “I’m not safe and I’m not okay and I don’t know if I’ll ever be either of those again. I have-- I don’t-- There is this disorder, uh, a sort of anxiety disorder. That I have. If I go outside I have panic attacks and freak out and there are gho-- I don’t like to see-- _Fuck!_ Fuck me. I have agoraphobia. I am afraid to go outside. Other than when I was kidnapped it has been over three years since I have been outside _at all_ and as far as I’m concerned, when they drugged and kidnapped me they had teleportation powers and I _still haven’t been outside._”

Dave felt his heart break for the beautiful man even more. Klaus was so sure of his worthlessness, that was clear. But Dave knew that Klaus was more important than he thought. It did help explain why he panicked so badly when Dave suggested leaving the tent. “I’ll help keep you safe, okay? You can trust me.”

Dave wondered how Klaus managed to _get_ to Vietnam, but that wasn’t what was important at the moment. What was important was making sure Klaus knew he could trust him. “Thank you for being honest with me, that was very courageous.” Klaus snorted in disbelief. “Can’t be easy, explaining your disorder. No way to know if people would believe you or how they’ll react. Don’t think that it wasn’t brave of you to tell me.”

“Not told a lot of people about it. But that’s not the part that people don’t believe--” He stopped himself from saying more.

“It’s okay. You don’t need to go into anything you aren’t ready to.”

Klaus eyed the few ghosts in the tent, “I shouldn’t be here.”

“No, it’s not the best place for you,” Dave agreed. He wrapped Klaus up in a hug, hoping he didn’t resist the comfort. “Is there anything you do that helps with the anxiety?”

“Uh, I smoke a lot of weed?” Klaus mumbled.

Dave nodded, “Well that’s really easy to get a hold of here. I got your back, Klaus. Until your tour is over I’ll be here by your side, okay? If you ever feel overwhelmed you can come to me.”

It seemed too good to be true. A handsome near stranger offering him protect at war. It was Klaus’s best chance. Sure, he was surrounded by ghosts and the jungle but he couldn’t let the army send him back to the states. He couldn’t get a job and he couldn’t go to Reggie, explaining that he’s his son from the future. Dave was his best option. At least until he figured out how to time travel back home. “Thank you.”

Later Dave somehow coaxed him to the food tent. 

Most importantly: he was hungry. Also most importantly: he was high. A last most importantly: _Dave asked_. He didn’t push. He’d just asked if he wanted to join him or if he needed to bring food back after eating. 

It was--

_Terrifying._

It was also--

_Freeing._

He’d been outside now. Not drugged into unconsciousness while being transported but walking upright, shoulder hitting Dave’s with every step, wanting to hold hands with him but knew better than to ask that of him during _the Vietnam War._

Dave had kept up a calming story from his childhood. Something about some hijinks from Hebrew school. 

When they got to the new tent, Dave sat both of them down at an empty table and kept up the story while Klaus calmed down. The sun had felt lovely, nice and warming but he’d seen _so many_ dead. He did here too, in the new tent. He wasn’t even sure how many of the men were injured but alive and how many had passed. 

It reminded him of when he thought Hazel and Cha Cha were ghosts.

He was very glad Dave hadn’t left his side to get food yet. 

Eventually they found a rhythm to some day to day army life. Dave was a constant by his side, somehow always knowing how to calm Klaus before he had a major anxiety attack. He made sure Klaus had enough marijuana to keep a lid on his nerves, walked him between tents, slept by his side, told the other guys off when they pried too much. He was more understanding than Ben and he couldn’t even see the ghosts.

He didn’t even _know_ about the ghosts.

During the battles that Klaus couldn’t say no too, he mostly clung to Dave’s side, sometimes blindly shooting out across the way towards the VC. He didn’t actually want to kill anyone and have their ghost haunt him. The worst ghost would be one he put there. Klaus knew he wouldn’t be able to handle that. Thankfully most of the ghosts that wandered around the camp were the members of the 173rd who were unlucky enough to die here. A few of the ghosts were Charlie, but it was mostly other Americans. Most were also too shell shocked to do more than stare blankly or scream. They didn’t even scream _at_ Klaus, they just stood around screaming.

The sound was awful but not having it directed at him was a blessing.

One night, when he couldn’t sleep, he was trying to figure out his time traveling briefcase and smoking some pot when he thought maybe he should tell Dave about the ghosts. It looked like he would be here for sometime yet (forever?) and Dave had proven to be an ally. 

_Dave was safe._

He’d open up slow. Ghosts first. If it went over well he’d maybe mention the time travel at a later date. Too much at once and Dave would probably be more than happy to see him sent home to a mental asylum. Hell, the army already had grounds to send him as a Section 8 with his agoraphobia. 

And he probably wasn’t great at hiding his sexuality.

When they had a moment, Klaus said he wanted to talk to Dave alone. Dave found a spot for them to talk. 

“I have something important I want to tell you,” Klaus started, wrapping his blanket around him. Dave probably knew that this meant it was serious. He’d tried to not cocoon up as much as at home, knowing it was frowned upon as well as it was hot in Vietnam. He missed having his AC unit to keep his house cool. “You can’t tell anyone.”

Dave nodded. He figured Klaus was going to mention being queer. It was pretty clear that he wasn’t into just women. Not that he was one to talk bad about the queers. He was gay himself. And over the few weeks he’d known Klaus he started to get feelings for the other man. Ideally Klaus was going to mention that he liked Dave and they could have a nice chat about how one day they could be in a relationship. But not here, not now. But one day. When their tour was over and Dave could whisk Klaus to the safety of a house and help him with his disorder somewhere that was _actually safe._

Dave had spent a number of nights thinking about how he’d love to make Klaus a house he could feel safe in while Klaus looked at his briefcase again and again. Dave had already written to his bubbe about making some blankets for him. He longed to wrap Klaus up in his arms but until then he’d settle for Klaus in the army issue blankets. 

“Uh, you know, um--” Klaus grabbed Dave’s hand and tapped a song on his palm with his finger tips. “I have anxiety problems? _Of course you do._ God we’re lucky Sarge just wants bodies and is willing to put up with my gay ass.”

Dave almost choked on nothing when Klaus casually said that. Was this a conversation about his queerness like Dave had hoped?

“Anyway, uh. Previous to y’know, the kidnapping and _fucking war_ the last time I’d been outside I had a bad panic attack when a neighbor boy waved at me,” Klaus ducked his head in shame. Dave frowned and captured Klaus’s hand in his, stopping the tune being etched into his palm but he needed to show Klaus his support. 

“You know I used to be a junkie? We’ve been over this, right? A proper addict. Well, that was because the drugs they-- _the boy could have been--_ I see ghosts. The dead. The drugs kept them away because they _never leave me alone_ and they are everywhere, Dave. They don’t shut up and they want to tear me apart and make me one of them and they are so needy and _my house was safe_. No unwanted dead bothered me when I stayed inside. It was the start of my-- my problem. I know-- I know you won’t believe me, but Dave, I promise I can see the dead and--”

“Hey,” Dave moved to sit on the same cot as Klaus, “I believe you. Of course I believe you.”

“I saw my brother Ben and none of the others, _for years_, they didn’t believe me and they _know_ I can see the dead. They know, Dave, and they didn’t believe me but you--?” Klaus’s face twisted in confusion.

“Believe you,” Dave said, wrapping an arm around him. Why wouldn’t he? Even if Klaus _couldn’t_ see the dead, he _believed_ he did which was all that mattered. To Klaus they were real, and so they _were_. But Dave didn’t think this was part of his disorder. He’d seen Klaus muttering to people, looking at things that weren’t there, have a conversation with one of their friends who had passed away a day previous, Klaus not realizing he was dead. “You can tell me anything Klaus, I’m willing to listen. You can trust me, remember?”

Klaus shook his head, “No, you can’t be this wonderful. You can’t-- I don’t deserve it. I’m broken and you shouldn’t believe me.”

“I think I can decide if I should believe you or not,” Dave argued. “Nothing you can say will make me turn away from you.”

“Ha!” Klaus exclaimed. “Don’t be so sure. I’ll have you know I’m from the future. Bet you can’t believe that!” He froze, “Shit.” He hadn’t meant to say that yet. Ease Dave in, save the future for last. Maybe never even mention it, just one day figure out how to work the briefcase and go back home to where he’d be safe (he was safe with Dave though). “I didn’t mean that.”

“I think you did,” Dave replied. “The future?”

“I don’t know! I had been at home watching Ben water the plants outside and then I was being tortured in a motel and then I was escaping through a vent because I couldn’t go through the door-- _Dave I couldn’t go through the door_, and then I opened the stupid breifcase and it sent me here-- _to you_,” Klaus said quickly, wanting to hide, to feel safe.

“Why haven’t you gone home, then?” Dave asked.

Klaus shrugged, “I can’t figure out the stupid breifcase. I’m stuck here.”

“We’ll figure it out, Klaus. I promise. We’ll find a way to get you back home,” Dave hugged him tight. He’d see Klaus home safe; after all, he didn’t make pie crust promises.

From there Dave made it clear that he believed him. He’d asked questions about the future, about the briefcase. They had looked over the device together, trying to figure it out. Dave agreed the how-to guide was written in a code and they had managed to find some wiring hidden in the lining that they didn’t touch. Dave was even more certain it was a time travel device after finding that. 

Months went by. Dave’s feelings towards Klaus only grew. He watched as his friend faced his fears everyday. He was proud of Klaus whenever he left the tents, when he followed Dave out to fight, when he stood up for himself against the others. 

Then they got to go on leave. Dave gathered food in the market and joined Klaus in their motel room. He was glad that they could hide out during their three days of freedom but he hadn’t wanted to leave Klaus there alone. The last time he’d been in a motel room he’d been tortured. Dave had wrapped him up in the blankets before he left. He hoped that his friend wasn’t in the middle of an anxiety attack without him. 

Klaus was still under the blankets, listening to Dave’s battery powered radio. He seemed mostly fine. He’d jumped when Dave opened the door but then greeted him with a grin.

“Got us some food,” Dave put the sacks down. “Now we don’t have to leave the motel for the next three days.”

“If you wanted to keep me locked in a motel room with you for three days, all you had to do was ask,” Klaus winked at him. 

They’d been flirting a lot recently. If a dishonorable discharge wasn’t something that would severly impact life back in the states, Dave would have been tempted to loudly announce they were both queer so he could get Klaus somewhere safe, for the long haul. He’d heard some stories about Klaus’s house since he found out about the future, and he wanted to make another sanctuary for his friend. 

He would give Klaus everything if he could.

It was later that night, after they’d kissed, after they made love, after Dave got to hold Klaus in his arms like he’d wanted to, that they were looking over the briefcase once more.

They were wrapped in the same blanket this time, knees touching, but otherwise they were mostly naked. 

“Think we’ll eventually figure it out?” Klaus asked, shaking the briefcase. 

“I hope so, I honestly would love to see you home, safe.”

Klaus smiled at him, “As long as you come with. Wouldn’t be home without you now.”

This time, touching each other, both opening the briefcase, both wanting to go to the future, away from the war, they were greeted with a bright light.

Thankfully, they were still wrapped in the blanket. And they were on a bus. Klaus let out a squeak and huddled up against Dave. Dave wrapped his arm around Klaus tight while gripping the briefcase with the other. “Do you know where we are? _When_ we are?”

“I think I was on this bus when I opened the briefcase the first time, wishing for something to help keep me safe.” He let out a thoughtful noise, “It brought me to you.”

“Okay, so we are safe,” Dave told Klaus. “We must be in 2019, and we are _safe_.” Dave thought that being ripped from a motel room and transported when not expecting it would not help Klaus with his anxiety. He wanted Klaus to know that he was okay. “We’ll go to your house and regroup with Ben, call Luther. Sound like a plan?”

Klaus nodded. “Yeah. Of course.” He did feel rattled. He was glad Dave was there to help protect him. He’d gotten used to the ghosts at camp but here in 2019 it was all new ghosts. How long had he been gone? It was time travel, what if he hadn’t even left yet? Was he in the motel still? Could he go save himself? If he did, he wouldn’t be Dave by his side. He crawled further in Dave’s lap, wrapping their shared blanket closer around them. He didn’t know where the bus was taking them. How far from home were they? Where was Ben? Was Ben looking for him?

Could they even go back to his home? Did he need to start somewhere new? The last time he’d been home he’d been kidnapped. “What if I get kidnapped from home again?”

Dave shook his head, “Won’t happen.”

“It happened before. Hazel and Cha Cha know where to find me, Dave. We shouldn’t go back there. _It’s not good anymore._”

“Sure it is,” Dave soothed. “You think I’d let you get kidnapped again? No way. You’ll be safe, I promise. And remember, I don’t make pie crust promises.”

Klaus laughed, “Right. Of course. How could I forget.” 

“Klaus! Thank god!”

Klaus jumped and clutched to Dave before realizing he knew that voice, “Ben?” Turning he let out a watery laugh when he saw his brother. He reached out, making Ben corporeal. 

“Oh god, you’re naked,” Ben said as he let himself be pulled towards his brother and some stranger. 

“Am not,” Klaus mumbled. “Got underwear on.”

“Well _excuse me,_” Ben rolled his eyes. “How wrong I was.” He frowned and ran a hand through Klaus’s hair, “It’s longer. You-- aren’t as pale? Have you-- _were you outside_?” Klaus had disappeared a few hours ago, Ben had been horrified when he saw Klaus open the briefcase and then disappear in light. He had no idea where his brother went to. He worried for Klaus, wherever he had gone to. It looked like he’d been gone for a while. Time had changed for Klaus, more than it had changed for Ben.

He worried.

Klaus let out a slightly hysterical giggle, “I was in the Vietnam War for months.”

_”Oh Klaus,”_ Ben said. His imagination running wild on what that must have been like for Klaus. Nothing good. 

They stayed like that for a bit. Dave holding onto Klaus who was holding onto Ben. Dave noted one of the other passengers had moved away from them. “Klaus, is this the way to your house?”

“Who are you?” Ben asked as Klaus shrugged saying, “I don’t know.”

“I’m Dave Katz. Nice to meet you, Ben. Do you know the way to your house?” Dave knew that Klaus had managed to mostly hold it together in Vietnam, he’d almost gotten used to it. He still had a lot of anxiety, especially when he wasn’t in a tent and while they were no longer at war, he wanted Klaus to be somewhere he could think of as safe. A bus was not that.

“This bus probably won’t go near it. We’d be best to get off and get a taxi.”

“We have no money,” Klaus muttered. “Or a bus ticket, by the way.”

“We can pay the taxi after we get home. I can bring the money back out to him,” Ben said. “We should get you home soon?”

“Uh, yeah,” Klaus agreed. “I do still have-- _my disorder_.”

Between Dave and Ben, he kept from having a meltdown from the sudden change location (safe motel room to a bus? no thanks.) as well as being worried at the fact that he was going back home.

“We’ll change the locks tomorrow,” Ben said. “We can have Luther pick some up.”

Klaus nodded as they arrived at his house, “Doors and windows?”

“Of course.”

The three of them got out, Dave keeping a hand on Klaus, blanket still wrapped around them. Klaus entered his house first, looking around warily. Everything looked mostly in place. He couldn’t be sure, it had been so long since he’d been home. But before he got very far into his home, he heard someone moving in it.

Klaus froze.

They were back, they were going to get him again. This time they’d kill him. Kill Dave. He shouldn’t have gone back home. Changing the locks wouldn’t keep him safe. He and Dave should have gone to the Academy or just skipped town, started over. Somewhere that no one could find him and take him again.

He couldn’t breathe. 

And then Vanya entered the room.

Klaus let out a noise he hadn’t planned, “Holy shit, Vanya.” He was gripping Dave tight, leaving white finger marks where he’d been cutting off circulation. “What are-- Oh god, are you dead?”

Vanya shook her head, slowly walking forward, hands raised, “No, I’m alive, Klaus. The others stormed the motel you were at but you had already escaped. They had me wait here in case you came home while they looked for you.”

“You see her too?” Klaus whispered to Dave who nodded. “Luther knew to look for me?” he asked Vanya.

“Yeah, we were going to visit and play Life with you. He told me about it on the way over, it sounded like fun.” Vanya stopped in front of him, looking him over, “Are you okay?”

Klaus laughed, “I have a feeling I’m going to have a major break down dealing with _everything_ but at this second I’m okay.” Dave wrapped his arms around Klaus in silent support.

“Paid the taxi, then called Luther,” Ben said, giving Vanya a smile and nod. She then must of realized Ben was there, was _visible_, and seemed to have trouble looking away. “He’s coming, alone.”

Klaus sagged in Dave’s arms, starting to relax.

He hadn’t lied. In the next week or so he would be in a place that was _actually safe_ and he would be able to unpack being kidnapped from home, tortured, his time in Vietnam. He knew he hadn’t done any of that properly. He’d been forced to set it aside. He knew he was still agoraphobic, even though he’d recently been outside _a lot_. If anything that was worse for him, as he hadn’t been ready. The chance to heal from his disorder had been taken from him. 

He honestly didn’t know how different his life at home would be, how he would react to it. 

Thankfully he had Ben, Luther, and _Dave_ to help him. He had support to help him heal.

They had put on clothes by the time Luther showed up.

“I was so worried,” Luther said, wrapping Klaus in a hug.

Klaus had missed Luther’s hugs. Klaus clung to him. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Luther replied. 

The next day Luther and Dave changed all the locks in the house while Klaus hung out with Ben and Vanya in the basement. They’d given the briefcase to Five, who, it was reported, was very pleased to see it. Pogo started some documents to make it look like Dave wasn’t a time traveler. 

And then, as the three of them were watching trash tv, there was a small news section on how the Academy was dealing with their father’s death and some speculation based on Vanya’s book.

The tv screen cracked.

Klaus jumped, fighting off a flashback from the war. He turned to Vanya for help and saw her eyes were white for a second. 

She said she’d stopped taking her pills, they had all gone missing recently. Klaus thought that meant someone broke into her home, they should change her locks next; Vanya thought it meant she forgot to get her refill.

Turned out it meant she had powers.

“We’ll figure this out,” Luther said, giving her one of his good hugs. 

“You should stay here, until we change your locks too,” Klaus said, giving her a hug after Luther. “It’s safe here.”

She smiled at him, feeling welcome and loved. She knew, for once, she wouldn’t be turned away or forgotten by her siblings. But she declined staying with him, “You’ve got Dave here. You don’t need a sibling cramping your style.”

“I’ve already got Ben, what’s one more?” Klaus winked at her.

She declined again, but agreed to have either Luther or Five stay with her until the locks got changed. She hadn’t wanted her new powers to cause Klaus or Dave to have a flashback. She couldn’t control them yet, but with her family’s support, she knew she’d figure them out. She understood that Klaus was so worried about her locks. Why he thought someone had broken in. Her heart broke knowing that this was left over from when he was taken. And if changing her locks helped him, she’d do that.

Eventually things settled. 

Five’s apocalypse didn’t happen, Vanya could control her powers, the rest of the siblings got to see Klaus and Ben. Klaus had Dave. And Dave kept his promises. He kept Klaus safe. 

He did however make it clear that he _believed_ in Klaus and would coax Klaus outside at least once a week. Usually a stroll in Ben’s garden. Klaus brought up the idea of a water feature again. Would Ben like that? Dave? They could maybe get one. Wouldn’t that be nice? They could get some koi? Klaus could stick his feet in the water on hot days.

“Maybe,” Klaus watched Ben water his plants as he leaned against Dave who held him tight, “we should have my family over for a party? The Game of Life is up to nine players? We could all play it together? _Wouldn’t that be nice?_”

He thought it sounded nice.

**Author's Note:**

> find me at tumblr @ obliqueoptimism


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